Category: family

Last week I signed a paper that has the potential to change life as I know it.

I’m grabbing my stylist, kissing my social life goodbye, and taking my modeling career to NYC! That paper was a contract with my dream agency… And let me tell you: I did not expect to walk out of their building that day as one of their models.

God is so good. I prayed for Him to swing open doors in NYC or shut them firmly, and it would appear He has given an unmistakable answer. Thank you for all of your sweet comments, support, and love!

But I have some even cooler news. When I told my new agent about this blog, his eyebrows shot up and he leaned in, his attention piqued. Originality speaks volumes. Models are a dime a dozen… But a straight male dressing his wife on his own accord? That’s something worth talking about.

And so we did.

The next day, I went on to their website and was SHOCKED to see some of our blog photos had made it on to my portfolio!

Besides the irony that neither of us credited Josh as being a decent photographer, I’m also simply thrilled that Josh seems to come with me where ever God leads me. He has become such a vital part of my modeling career– from styling my photo shoots, to dressing me for important interviews.

Speaking of photo shoots, Josh has his hands full dressing me every day AND functioning as my stylist for some upcoming photo shoots. Blessings on blessings on blessings on this man. He’s not once complained!

So this weekend, we headed to my favorite thrift shop, Uncle Funky’s, to do some treasure hunting. But let me back track. The idea to visit Uncle Funky’s actually started with a solo trip, when Josh secretly visited to find me a gift.

Meg had asked for this week’s outfits to have some “funk” to them. If your wife says to add some funk to her outfit, you take advantage of that opportunity. I was particularly inspired by one outfit I came home with as a surprise for Megan. I found those pants at Uncle Funky’s for only $12! I’ve wanted Meg to have some rad bell-bottoms for a while, so I was thrilled when I stumbled on this particular pair.

I was so surprised that he had made the special trip, and even more surprised that Nancy, dear friend and Queen of Uncle Funky’s, had gifted us the rest of the outfit! After a week of bright, creative outfits, returning to style the photo shoot was a no-brainer.

This place is brimming with good memories. Josh and I have been making visits here ever since we were in college together. This picture was taken in Nancy’s store all the way back in 2010! I bought Josh a sterling silver turquoise ring, which he wears to this day (and wore the year we were apart, too. I frequently checked to see if he had taken it off. He never did.) as well as the necklace and earring he’s wearing in this picture.

The first time I brushed through the beaded entrance of Nancy’s store was now over six years ago. When you walk through the doors, you’ll be warmly greeted by Nancy, who is usually accompanied by one or three shaggy poodles. If you’re looking for something in particular, Nancy knows where to find it. If you have a partial outfit picked out, Nancy’s quick to run to the back of the store, emerging with a piece of jewelry that perfectly finishes your look. And if you’re just browsing or feeling chatty, Nancy is there with a story, a listening ear, and a glass jar with a handwritten label reading: Prayer requests and praise. All of these are reasons why my Uncle Funky trips average 2 hours a visit. This past Saturday was no different, as Josh and Nancy had me try on dress after dress, at least 10 hats, and an assortment of gorgeous vintage jewelry.

Oh yeah, and assist me when I slowly suffocate in too-small vintage dresses. After they finished laughing at my expense, that is.

Thrift shops can be a dime a dozen (no I did not intentionally make that a joke about how cheap they are) but this one is special. It’s a treasure trove of vintage clothing and music memorabilia. For some reason it’s always reminded me of the pirate ship at the end of The Goonies. Don’t ask me why. Just go there and get yourself lost in its labyrinthine aisles of jewels, wigs, and bell bottoms. You’ll be lucky if you only leave with one or two bags. We visited on Saturday and we left with a hefty bag of loot.

We love you Nancy! Thanks for an amazing visit! We’ll be back soon.

2010 to present!

As far as the rest of the week’s outfits, it had rained so much, we left the job of photographing the outfits to the weekend in hopes of better weather. Alas, it was still drizzling.

This week, I didn’t make things TOO funky. Just hints, here and there, to add some pizzazz.I mainly focused on using unconventional pairings and fun colors… just small additions to give a fairly normal outfit a bit of flair.

How many of you lady readers grab a pair of shorts with a t-shirt as a warm weather go to? Most of you, am I right? There’s absolutely no problem with that. But, as a male observer who has begun to develop an interesting take on women’s fashion, let me propose to you an alternative: Jazz that “go-to” up with colored tights under your shorts (so European) and some cool shades. I realize this is a younger look; if I suggested this to my Mom-in-love, she would snort with laughter. But buying some cool shades works for any age.

We eventually moved things indoors.

These are the logistical parts of this blog that I don’t think I’ll miss when the year is over…

Skirts aren’t just for hot weather anymore. Try adding some jeans (especially boyfriend jeans as pictured) under the skirt and maybe a graphic tee. I was looking forward to adding the umbrella to the shot because, while practical, it’s also a cute prop for a funky outfit.

This one is special because it’s the outfit Meg wore to New York for her final interview and acceptance into her new modelling agency! Simple. Jeans and a sweater is far from being an outlandish combo– Hence the day-glow yellow shoes. They scream confidence.

To be honest, those shoes probably got me my agency signing by way of giving me exactly the kind of confidence you hoped they would. Thanks babe 😉

Well, that wraps up this week! After all this color and crazy, I’m thinking we need a neutrals week.

Hope you Mommas had a restful weekend! Thanks for reading, and as always, we’d love to hear which outfit was your favorite and any suggestions for future themes!

A few weeks ago, I watched a foreign film about two girls who embark on a road trip to spread the ashes of their deceased friend, per his final request. Along the way, the girls watch video clips their friend had recorded as his cancer-stricken days came to an end. In one of these reflective home video clips, the friend confesses, “I thought I’d be really good at dying. Like, really good. But I’m not. I don’t want to die.”

Well, I thought I would be really good at grieving. Whatever that means. That’s not exactly how things played out. Surprise surprise. It looked less like, pray-and-shed-sad-but-knowing-tears,” and more like:

After my initial post three weeks ago, my thoughts and feelings about God’s grace and faithfulness, and experiencing peace in the midst of grief, rapidly unraveled. Like within 24 hours of posting. I won’t go into detail, but suffice to say that I had no desire to get out of bed, leave the house, or pray. Especially pray.

(I want to interject here and just say that this blog post does get happier. Like, there is actually a really good end to this story. Stay with me!)

In the midst of this, Josh and I moved. Thanks to help from my family, the actual moving part went smoothly. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) It could have been much worse, but we were already feeling the stress and exhaustion of the past weeks, so little things felt taxing, and big things (like feeling really depressed) felt crushing and permanent.

Thus, we took a step back. We took a break from blogging. We focused on healing, setting up our new home, and healing some broken parts in our marriage. I’m bummed that we won’t be able to say that Josh dressed me every day for a year. But ultimately, our lives and marriage are far from perfect. So neither is our blog.

Okay. Now, if I were still in the dumps, I probably wouldn’t have the energy to be writing this. So yes, you would be correct in assuming that I must be feeling better. Praise God. It’s so difficult to see the forest for the trees sometimes. With a big portion of our unpacking done and the return of my (mostly) cheery disposition, Josh and I have dived back into full blogging swing. We made a comeback just in time to take my summer clothes out of storage, which is one of my favorite ways to usher in warmer weather! See ya later, flannels. Hello linen and pasty white legs.

Shortly after Josh and I decided it was safe to return to our dressing and styling routine without killing ourselves or each other, we had to have a serious talk. The discussion revolved around the implications of pairing 5 inch heels with short shorts and fish net tights, which is what he had laid out for me as my first outfit. After some eyebrow wiggling on his part, he traded me for a pair of flats.

This fire escape right outside our door is one of my FAVORITE features of our new apartment. Besides enjoying my coffee out here every morning (weather permitting), Josh and I have shared a late Saturday brunch and a summery dinner together from our perch. It also gives us a great view of Main Street… And Main Street a view of us, in all our peculiar glory. Hi, neighbors!

This past Saturday, Josh and I took a walk around our neighborhood to meet some of our neighbors and explore some new photo shoot locations. One of our first stops was to visit the boutique that shares our building, Lily and Willow. Oh. My. Goodness. What a hidden gem! The owners, Jenny and Todd were so welcoming, interesting, and obviously talented. Well known in the area for their hand-carved wooden bottle stoppers and whimsical printed tiles, Josh and I quickly decided we like our new neighbors. Oh, and Jenny’s husband is a magician. So there’s that.

Our next stop was to visit the owners of the town’s flower shop and only other boutique, directly across from Lily and Willow and our apartment. I put on Josh’s Easter outfit for me to grab a picture in case we didn’t have time to take one the next day amidst church and egg hunts. When we dropped in to meet the owners, we discovered another Parkesburg secret gem… The owners keep their pet bunnies in the store. And I got to hold one.

I was so enamored with fluffy Celeste, that Josh and I went home seriously discussing the possibility of owning our own house-broken cottontail. EEK.

Speaking of our home, we have SO many huge windows. Having natural light filling our house for most of the day is absolutely glorious. It also makes for perfectpicture lighting. Which is important when you’re taking pictures almost every.day.

It’s also important because now that Josh is working away from home, taking photos for our blog is largely left up to me. We don’t own a tripod yet, so one has to get creative. Having ideal lighting frees up my time so I’m able to jurry rig setups like this one:

(also, it’s jurry rig, not jerry rig. I looked it up.)

My attempts at taking self-portraits were alright, but it definitely makes me a TON more grateful for Josh’s photography skills. Yes, babe, you read that right. You’ve come a long way in the past four months 🙂

We’re so grateful for the support you’ve all shown us through your prayers, comments and calls. It feels wonderful and restorative to be back on our feet and nesting in our new home. It amazes me how life can change so quickly and unexpectedly. We are fully immersed in this new season, and I think we’re going to love it. God is good.

Thanks for reading, dear ones! I surely missed writing and sharing with you about our adventures in fashion, marriage, and the roller coaster that is life. What do you think about Josh’s first attempts at dressing me for this gorgeous Spring weather? Let us know! As always, hearing from you is our favorite part of this blog. ❤

It’s Friday evening. Usually I don’t start writing until late Saturday night, and sometimes not until Sunday afternoon.

But I called out of all of my QVC shows for the day, and I have all the time in the world to sit and think and write. To consider how to write this week’s post, if at all. And to dwell on how peculiar life is, and how it is that God’s timing is perfect, but sometimes unfathomably so.

We’ve all been there: When the normal grind is suddenly disrupted by unexpected circumstances. When your hold on the future is gripped by the throat and shaken to the core. When you’re brought to your knees from the weight in your chest and refuse to get up until given answers.

Josh and I lived there this week. And in the midst of the chaos, no, he did not dress me.

I have no cute pictures of flouncy dresses to show you. No witty remarks about marriage or my husband stylist. I have no style advice to give you this week, because I spent it in sweatpants of my choosing and sweat-soaked t-shirts.

For the past three weeks, our little home has buzzed with joy and celebration following finding out I was pregnant. Three weeks crawled by as we anticipated entering the “safe zone” so we could tell our parents. We knew the chances of a miscarriage were higher than normal because I have PCOS, a hormone imbalance which can complicate getting and staying pregnant. We knew the risk but rejected fear, choosing instead to hope and pray.

In my heart, I believed God wanted me to keep the pregnancy to show the world that He’s bigger than statistics. I knew He was there when I told Josh angrily that “I would hate to get pregnant at this stage in our marriage”, referring to a rough patch in our marriage that we couldn’t seem to get past. And I know He delights in irony and grace and making beauty from ashes.

I cautiously reminded myself the same would be true were the outcome of the pregnancy a miscarriage. I’m reminding myself of that truth now, as I wonder how the pain of this loss fits into His plan.

This week, I was dressed in gray shades of uncertainty.

This week, Josh adorned me with the gentle, comfort of his touch and unshakable peace.

This week, the only picture I took was a picture of me laying hands on my womb, flat and aching.

This week, I dwelt upon the beauty of community, knowing Josh and I would be overwhelmed with support and prayers and words of encouragement for future children.

This week, I prayed- hard- for you mothers and fathers who have also experienced this kind of grief. I thought of the women who have strongly gone before me, fiercely pursuing wholeness and hope, like my own Mother. I, too.

And finally, this week, I held on to my husband. My best friend, my rock, and the father of my someday children.

I share this information from a place of total vulnerability that I know may come across to some as TMI. Not to mention that sharing personal, sensitive information on a platform as vast and unforgiving as the internet is super scary. But I share with a longing for all to know that God’s love is so huge and beautiful and his plan for you so perfect and intricate, that fear is pointless.

You probably didn’t expect to read such a heavy post today, nor be preached to. So if you made it to this point, thank you for taking a moment to sit with us. It is beautiful and comforting to feel surrounded and supported by loved ones and friends.

Next week is moving week. I’m not really sure how to transition from this week’s unexpected tumult, but somehow, life goes on. Sometimes before I’m ready, and at times with a substantial limp, but it goes. And that, my friends, is a reason to hope.

Love,

Meg

“Of one thing I am perfectly sure: God’s story never ends with ‘ashes.'” – Elisabeth Elliot

photo by Autumn Kern Photography

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